


Ringleader, Baby

by Jakathine



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Circus, Competition, Dancing, Developing Relationship, Dogtrainer!Harry, Gymnast!Eggsy, Gymnast!Roxy, Gymnastics, Juggler!Percival, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Past Character Death, aerial gymnastics, alternate universe - freeform, magician!Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 02:34:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4902205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jakathine/pseuds/Jakathine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So I saw this series of art on tumblr by Aiwa-Sensei and got inspired to write this fic, so this is a gift to Aiwa ♥</p>
<p>(Tumblr link to post: http://aiwa-sensei.tumblr.com/post/129997169890/so-how-about-kingsman-circus-au-its-probably)</p>
<p>The title comes from one of the lines of Britney Spears's song "Circus".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ringleader, Baby

Harry skimmed over the different portfolios before rubbing his eyes tiredly. Recently, the Kingsman Troupe needed to hire a new aerial gymnast and the selection process was just tedious.

A distinct shadow crossed over the papers and Harry turned to see Merlin, having appeared out of nowhere per his namesake.

“Everything all right, Harry?” Merlin asked, looking past Harry to the stack of portfolios.

Harry shrugged, “It’s just tough. I know we each get to pick a candidate for the new aerial gymnast but it’s hard.”

Merlin bobbed his head, “Yeah. We only just recently lost James…” he was quiet for a second, musing on their long-time friend who had incidentally broken his neck during an act gone wrong.

Harry frowned, “Percival already has a candidate in mind. Her name is Roxanne Morton.”

Merlin grinned, obviously intrigued by the juggler’s choice, “Oooh, a female one after so long! It has been years since we’ve had a female gymnast.”

Harry sighed, “Yeah. It has.”

“Anywho. I’ll leave you be. Here - for good luck” Merlin said, procuring a pink carnation from his vest’s pocket and giving it to Harry, who took it and smiled.

It turns out though Harry was in luck. The very next day he happened to be walking Mr. Pickle and stumbled upon a trio of young men doing break dance performances against another trio of dancers in the middle of the park. 

It had taken Harry a moment but he recognized Eggsy Unwin in the foray of swinging limbs and swaying hips.

Harry had known Eggsy’s father very well. They had been a performing team when Lee and James had just started out. However, Lee’s time with the Troupe was cut short when an angry customer had come into the tent one day and let fire, Lee Unwin having taken the bullet for him. Harry had visited Michelle but she had always been unhappy of Lee’s choice to perform alongside the Troupe. At that time, Eggsy had only been a little boy and Harry never thought he’d lay eyes on him again.

Eggsy’s maneuvers were just near perfect as he spun and twisted in the air, landing elegantly on the sheet of cardboard that had been laid down before turning to give a crooked grin to Harry. Right then and there Harry spoke with him about joining the Kingsman Troupe. Eggsy readily agreed and gave Harry his contact information, saying he’d come by tomorrow.

After doing some research, the only concern Harry had was that the young man had a previous criminal record. All in all though, he considered the skill worth the risk and chose him as he recruiter candidate - feeling on instinct that the potential Eggsy had would make everything worth it.

Harry entered in Eggsy’s names to Merlin’s documentations for though Merlin was the Magician he was also the Ringleader and all recruits from the various other performers had to be fully approved by his thorough training regime. 

 

_____________________________ 

 

When Harry Hart approached him though when he was tricking with his mates, he couldn’t help but be blown away by the fluid way the man walked.

Though he’d been walking a dog and said he was a dog trainer, Eggsy knew that that man had some sort of gymnast training. Later he found out Harry had once been a trapeziest back in his day but his age made him do paperwork and dog trainings mostly. Eggsy didn’t mind one bit, and gladly gave Harry his contact info saying that he’d arrive the next day for the trainings. Thought the Troupe was a travelling lot they had temporarily rented a gymnasium area for the recruits to practice, perform, and reside in.

When Eggsy met the other recruits he knew right away he liked Roxy. She was nice to him. Amelia was all right but she got scared during a simple water dive trick and was instantly disqualified. Merlin said that there had to be no hesitations for these types of performances. The other recruits….not so nice, especially that Charlie fellow. He had been taught by the top schools with private tutoring and wanted his place in the world-famous Kingsman Troupe. The other fellows, Digby, Rufus, and Nathaniel weren’t too bad either when not around Charlie, which was rare, so Eggsy kept his distance from them as best as he could muster.

Harry had just bought some new pups, so each of the trainees got to have a chance to become familiar with them while Harry simultaneously taught to the pups new tricks that way all of the performers would, at some point, work together. The final selected participant would work mostly with the dog they chose and the others would go with Harry to the dog performing section. 

Harry found himself delightfully surprised when Eggsy picked a rather rambunctious pug, one of the more difficult dogs to train adequately, while the others chose simpler dogs. Though later Harry had to facepalm when Merlin told him the only reason Eggsy did that was because he thought the dog was a bulldog. Oh well.

During their third test, Eggsy quietly thanked his mum for entering him in gymnastics when he was young and then later being briefly part of the Marines and undergoing the gymnastic training. Though now-a-days he had mostly used it to run out of situations and to contort himself in interesting ways (He’d make sure not to mention those things to his mum, though), it had given him an edge to face off against dangerous tasks.

This test was executing a perfect series of maneuvers which were: three somersaults blending into a front somersault followed by making a running leap onto a tumble track to perform a double full twist. The final stage was then climbing up rope and performing a single trapeze to a piece of selected music. If you made too many mistakes or you fell into the net below the trapeze set-up you were sent away. If you didn’t do either then you could advance to the next stage of training.

Digby, Rufus, and Nathaniel all flunked out at different points. Digby tripped as he was on the tumble track, Rufus fell on his shoulders after attempting to land the double full twist, and Nathaniel dropped at the halfway point of his trapeze performance.

Charlie passed, much to Eggsy’s displeasure. Roxy nearly fell at one point of her trapeze act, but an encouraging shout and applause from Eggsy kept her going and she even ended her act by grabbing a nearby hanging silk and spiraling her way down.

As Eggsy made his way through the course, Merlin decided to spice it up a bit, removing the net from below Eggsy just as Eggsy seated himself on the trapeze bar. Eggsy very nearly shouted at the magician, but the look he was receiving convinced him not to. Instead, he performed his heart out, twisting and looping with the sensual beat of the music. Steeling himself, Eggsy ended his performance with a dramatic hand-on-forehead and falling backwards as if to fall, and snapped his knee tight on the bar just before it was too late, making his classmates gasp.

As he brought himself down to the ground he heard applause by not only Roxy and Merlin but also Harry who had walked up. Eggsy was unsure how much of the performance Harry had seen.

“Splendid job, dear boy!!!” Harry exclaimed as he smiled broadly and clapped Eggsy on the shoulder.

Eggsy grinned ear to ear and was glad he face was already flushed from the dancing else wise he would be totally flushed right now.

Merlin made a notation in a notebook he kept with him seemingly in his hat, “Digby, Rufus, Nathaniel: pack your things. Charlie, Roxy, and Eggsy: go enjoy a night off. Good work, you three.”

As they moved past Merlin, Eggsy murmured something under his breath and before he realized Merlin had stepped in front of him.

“No, no no, you don’t do that. You have an issue, you whisper it in my ear. Not murmur it to the ground.” Merlin reprimanded.

Eggsy defiantly looked Merlin in the eyes, “Why the fuck did ya remove the net from my performance? Is it ‘cause I’m not a high-class performer?”

Merlin tilted his head then pointed at the performance area. Eggsy hesitated then followed the point of his finger, noticing that, at this level there was a thin almost gossamer looking net that was suspended just slightly above where the usual net was, “Ya need to get that chip of ya shoulder. Besides, you did better under more pressure.”

Eggsy studied the net then smiles wryly, “Yeah, all right. See you next time then.”

Merlin nodded before turning away and making his way to find Harry, who had gone off who knows where.

 

____________________________

 

The day off was great, but Eggsy was really sore from the aftermath. Turns out he didn’t have to worry long about it. Another test was coming up and this one they got to prepare for - aerial silks.

Now, having been taught how he was silks was by far not among things he’d had the chance to do. Roxy and Charlie, with their high class tutelage excelled at it. Roxy was kind enough to at least show Eggsy the ropes or rather, the silks. 

When it came down to their performance they were each alone with a solemn pale-looking judge with a pockmarked face. Roxy did perfectly, according to Merlin when they swapped out, then it was Eggsy’s turn.

The judge was wearing a long black coat accompanied by black gloves, black shoes, and even black trousers. He looks like one giant stick of charcoal had started to move, but wore the grimmest look of disapproval Eggsy had ever seen. It made Eggsy feel a little more than undressed, considering he was bare chested and only wore his white gymnastics trousers.

Shrugging his shoulders and having already warmed up prior to his turn, Eggsy went right away to the CD player and started playing his chosen song, “Chandelier” by Sia. The silk, a dozen or so pieces of dark red that looked like it came from the Cirque du Soleil, and felt heavenly against his skin as he climbed up to an appropriate height.

At first the man is unnerving with his steady gaze, but Eggsy soon ignores that, concentrating solely on the silks and making sure he doesn’t fall. He goes to grab a silk to make an Iron Cross when suddenly the one on his right dislodges from the ceiling. Quickly, Eggsy latches on to another silk and is barely able to hold himself on before he can feel the other one giving away. 

“Hey, Eggsy, is Kingsman worth dying for?” the judge asked, his voice perfectly composed as if Eggsy is nearly falling thirty feet head down to the ground.

Without thinking he launches himself to a piece of silk and hopes that it doesn’t give - which it doesn’t - and he’s left hanging there in a Butterfly, breathing heavily, and giving the man a glare says between breaths, “Fuck. Yeah.”

“Good job.” the judge said, standing as a side door opened to reveal Harry who was smiling.

“And a damn good one at that.” Harry added.

Eggsy carefully rolled some of the silk around himself then did a barrel roll down, stopping short of the floor and unwinding himself to set his feet gently on the floor.

“I’m the Troupe’s financier.” the judge remarked, tipping his head and shaking hands with Eggsy, “Just here to ensure that, should something happen to you, you’re willing to sign away about it for the Troupe instead of coming back later at us. Or rather, your family should you not live.”

A flash of alarm crossed Eggsy’s face as he withdrew his hand, but it couldn’t be helped he supposed. The show must go on, as they say.

“Charlie’s up next….wanna watch?” Harry asked, mischief dancing in his eyes as he pointed to the tinted window of the side door.

“Yaah, all right.” Eggsy relented, following Harry back through the door which he had come from.

Charlie’s performance, to say the least, was a bit disappointing if Eggsy said so himself. As one of the silks gave way Charlie cried out and lost his grip, attempting to do a roll down that only succeeded in slowing down his ungainly plop to the ground. Roxy got to be present too and they exchanged a cool glance which disguised their shared smugness as Charlie ranted and cussed.

Merlin gave them another couple of days off this time to rest, for he said they would need it for the last course, and left it at that. 

 

____________________________ 

 

Until then, Eggsy and Roxy had not yet met Arthur, a somewhat older fellow who was the circus’s manager. That night they got a chance to dress up nicely and exchange conversation with Arthur, who told them about the history of Kingsman and how, when one of them passed, he would be greatly honoured to have them there.

Arthur then told them a bit of what was going on in the business aspect of Kingsman, “We’ve got big competition ahead. A new troupe, the Valentine Troupe, has just started up. Their manger, Richmond, oh he’s a sight to see, very business oriented he is. The best performing act they have right now is a woman named Gazelle, a double-amputee that has double-edged swords for her lower legs.”

“Double-edged swords?” Roxy breathed, not quite believing what she heard.

“Oh yes. Don’t be fooled though, she can dance like no other and has extreme balancing skills....” at Roxy and Eggsy’s jumble of questions, Arthur put a hand up, “but, alas, that is, I think, for a later conversation.”

Roxy and Eggsy obediently hushed and enjoyed the rest of the evening before heading back to the Troupe, knowing that in the next couple of days one of them was going to stay and one of them was not.

 

____________________________ 

 

On the day of the final challenge, Eggsy was nervous. No, he was near about sick is what he was. Roxy didn’t look much better as they sat on the mat together, helping the other do warm up stretches in preparation for their final task, which so far had been unnamed.

Merlin and Arthur walked in together, with Harry and Percival right behind them.

Arthur spoke, “You will each be performing a course set. First you will start with Triple Russian One Handle on the pommel horse; proper Dismount then followed by run to the Rings where you will do a Kip and Support for five seconds; proper Dismount, then end with a run to the high bar, executing a proper Elgrip and landing.”

Roxy’s jaw clenched as she nodded while Eggsy could only dumbly nod.

“The twist.” Merlin added, a smirk on his face when Roxy and Eggsy snapped to attention at his words, “is that you will be timed. Not only do you need to do these maneuvers accurately but also swiftly. You’ll be simultaneously running the course.”

Merlin turned and was followed out by Arthur, Harry, and Percival with Roxy and Eggsy right behind them as they were led to another part of the building which had the course already set up.

After Roxy and Eggsy had bounced a little and warmed up, Arthur motioned for them to stand at the ready at each of their starting points.

“Hey, Rox.” Eggsy called over to her. She turned to look at him, her brow raised, “Good luck.”

She smiled, “You too.”

Then a shout by Merlin set them off on their course, first running to the pommel horse and doing the Triple Russian One Handle. They dismounted at the same time and hopped to the rings, going Kip and up to full support and maintaining that position for the required 5 seconds before dropping down and running to the high bar. Eggsy was just a breadth ahead, but during the Elgrip Roxy surged ahead.

She flipped gracefully through the air and landing on her feet before dashing to the red line of tape on the floor with Eggsy quick on her heels. Their finish could not have been but mere tenths of a second apart.

The four men looked between the two of them as they flopped on the ground together, chests heaving as they awaited the final verdict.

“One moment.” Arthur remarked and the four huddled closer together. Roxy and Eggsy could hear their muttering but couldn’t decipher it. After a few minutes of talking that fluctuated to bickering then back to regular talking, the four looked at them again and this time Merlin spoke.

“We’ve decided to hire you both.” Merlin said, then added quickly, “However, Roxy was first and therefore she is the rightful winner. When it comes to acts, she is the one calling the shots and who has earned the position. Eggsy, due to your performance on the trapeze, we want you to for the most part be reallocated to that position.”

Roxy and Eggsy embraced each other tightly, whooping for joy. Harry and Percival shook hands amicably, glad too that there was no longer the small bit of tension between them that had arose when their candidates were the finalists.

“Congratulations, you two.” Harry said, giving Eggsy an excited smooch on the forehead while Percival bear hugged Roxy, rocking her a bit back and forth with glee.

Eggsy blushed at the unexpected kiss and smiled up at Harry, which made Harry’s heart thump in his chest and cause him to blush in turn. “Thanks, Harry.” Then he stood on his tippy toes and gave Harry a peck on the cheek.

Roxy giggled and Percival hid a smirk behind his hand.

It was all Merlin could do to restrain rolling his eyes as he wrote down APPROVED by both of their names then theatrically disappeared in a blue cloud of smoke.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I considered for a while what to rate this but then decided Teen & Up would be best because of the slight language used as well as the dangerous level of the stunts performed.
> 
> *Please do not try these at home*
> 
> Here are videos to the stunts mentioned-
> 
> (gymnastics) front somersault - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVcBObTH6Ss  
> (gymnastics) double full twist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpsgwGvBdW8  
> (aerial gymnastics) single trapeze act - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW_6ovWIb98  
> (aerial silks) Iron Cross - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4QbOxrjZWA  
> (aerial silks) Butterfly Drop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp7MhfNf5m4  
> (aerial silks) Barrel Roll - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-zHW02O7LY  
> (pommel horse) Triple Russian One Handle + Dismount -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLC1oP9CS2Y  
> (gymnastic rings) Kip & Support (5 seconds for this fic)+ Dismount - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxj4EsM4JB4  
> (horizontal/high bar) Elgrip + Dismount - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RYinSkAqRU


End file.
